7/8/25, 11:27 AM Pointy Hat’s Modular Method for One Shots
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Pointy Hat
Modular
Method for
One-Shots
An Introduction
Welcome! This guide is designed to
help you through the process of
making your own one-shot.
The main goal of this document is to
get you to write a one-shot that you
can run in a single session (as one-
shots are intended to be run!). It does
this with a focus on modularity: the
ability to take out encounters to stick to
the one-session runtime.
You can save this document by
copy/pasting it into your own
document for ease of use.
Step 0: Above Table
This first step happens before you
start playing, and is here to give you
more time to actually play the game.
Before the game starts, we
recommend you do two things:
● Tell your players what the
Quest will be.
● Ask your players to describe
their characters to each other.
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● Communicate with your players
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to be finished in a single
session.
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knowing the quest and skipping
character introductions will work
wonders in saving you time you can
spend actually playing the one-shot.
Giving the players the quest before
they start playing also helps to set up
the expectation that the one-shot will
be about completing that task,
incentivizing players to stick to said
quest and not go outside the scope of
the one-shot by mistake.
Communicating the expectation of
playing a one-session story also
makes everyone at the table aware of
this goal and ensures everyone at the
table is working towards this same
goal.
Step 1: The Inciting
Quest
In the MMOS, a one-shot starts after
the players have accepted their quest.
It can start directly after the quest-
giver has explained the quest to the
party, but since we have already
communicated said quest to the
players in Step 0, it can instead start at
the location where the quest takes
place.
For example, if your one-shot’s quest
is “Find the locket that belonged to the
ghost haunting the tavern so that you
can exorcise her,” your game can start
as players leave the tavern after they
receive said quest, in front of the
abandoned manor, or in a cart on the
way to the manor, if there’s an
encounter on the way that you want to
play through.
In order to complete this step, you
must decide what the quest of the
one-shot is.
Examples of Quests: Find the
Amulet, Defeat the Demon, Win the
Race, Escort the Duke, Survive the
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Your One-Shot’s Quest:
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Step 2: The Two Paths
minutes
One of the MMOS’ goals is to create
one-shots with a lot of player choice.
In order to do this, it asks you to create
two paths.
The Path of Least Resistance is the
path that leads directly to completing
the quest in the least amount of time.
It’s the most obvious path forward. If
the quest is to find the locket, and the
party is told that the locket is in the
basement of the manor, the Path of
Least Resistance is to go directly to
the basement of the manor.
The Path Least Traveled On is the
path that meanders on its way to the
conclusion of the one-shot. It often
leads to extra encounters, and it may
not be immediately obvious how going
down this path leads to completing the
quest.
For example, if the quest is to find the
locket, but on the way there the party
was told that the ghost is a maid who
lived on the very top floor of the
manor, the path least traveled on can
be to visit the maid’s room.
Players who take the Path Least
Traveled On will find a key.
Examples of Paths Least Traveled
On: Ask the Smith who Made the
Amulet, Find Out Who Summoned the
Demon, Spy on the Competition, Look
Into the Duke, Find a New Location to
Camp in, Find the Murder Weapon,
Study the Labyrinth’s Legends.
Your One-Shot’s Path Least
Traveled On:
Step 3: The Key
The “key” is a term that the MMOS
uses to refer to something that can
unlock additional choices in the one-
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shot. It could be a literal object (like a
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recontextualizes the quest in some
way.
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end of The Path Least Traveled On.
For example, the key could be a diary
from which we learn that the person
who killed the ghost haunting the
tavern was the quest-giver, or it could
be a clue that the locket itself is cursed
and harms anyone that touches it, or a
way to perform the exorcism in a
different way.
The key should open up new
choices for the players, and taking
the Path of Least Resistance or the
Path Least Traveled On is, itself, a
choice the players need to make.
In order to complete this step, you
must decide what the key of the one-
shot is.
Examples of Keys: The Amulet is
Cursed, the Demon is Nice, the Race
is Rigged, the Duke is Dead, the
Players Cannot Survive, There is More
than One Killer, the Labyrinth Has Two
Levels.
Your One-Shot’s Key:
Step 4: The
Encounters
Encounters are the bulk of the one-
shot, and where modularity comes into
play. This method asks you to make
most of your encounters modular;
they must be easy to take out in case
you are running short on time.
In order to do this, you must either
write your encounters to not depend
on one another or, alternatively, you
must write a way to bypass the
encounter while giving the party
whatever they need to get out of it.
The bulk of your encounters should be
on the Path of Least Resistance, but
The Path Less Traveled On has to
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offer at the very least one additional
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For a standard one-shot, we
recommend:
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Pointy Hat’s Modular Method for One S… ● Two Combat Encounters
● One Roleplay Encounter minutes
● One Exploration Challenge or
Puzzle
You are welcome to write more, but
most, if not all, should be easily
skipped. Remember: modularity is the
goal!
Examples of Encounters: A Safe
Locked by a Puzzle, a Battle with a
Diabolist, a Racing Skill Challenge, an
Ambush, a Chase Scene, an
Interrogation, a Trapped Battlefield.
Your One-Shot’s Encounters:
Step 5: The Showdown
The showdown is the climax of your
one-shot, and the only encounter in
the MMOS that cannot be modular.
Most often, the showdown is a boss
battle against the last obstacle to
complete the quest, but the showdown
can be any kind of encounter. There is
no reason why your one-shot’s
showdown can’t be a tense roleplay
encounter or a timed puzzle.
Depending on the key you chose, the
circumstances around the showdown
might change. You might even decide
to have alternate showdowns that
happen depending on the choices the
players have made during their
adventure. We suggest keeping the
mechanical aspects the same while
changing the flavor to reduce prep
time.
Examples of Showdown: A Bidding
War for the Amulet, a Bombastic Battle
Against a Demon, a Fight On Top of a
Moving Vehicle, a Series of Waves of
Enemies, a Trial to Unmask the Killer,
a Mad Dash Out of a Crumbling
Structure.
Your One-Shot’s Showdown:
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Because the MMOS has player choice
in its DNA, the ending of the adventure
is subject to change depending onUpdated
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choices of the players. We suggest
preparing two different endings.
Ending A for Adequate: This ending
does not require a key and happens if
the players go directly through the
Path of Least Resistance. Despite its
name, the players rarely avoid the
Path Least Traveled On, so this ending
ends up being rare, but it must exist
for your players to be able to make a
choice.
The players complete the quest in the
most obvious way, and the one-shot
ends.
Ending B for Ballsy: This ending
requires the players to have acquired
the key. This ending needs to feel
dependent on them having said key so
that they feel like their choices have
mattered.
The players went out of their way to
explore further and see their efforts
rewarded with a different ending than
the basic one.
You can add additional choices during
the ending without worrying about the
ramifications being too hard to account
for, since the one-shot is ending soon
after.
For example, on the quest to exorcise
the tavern from the ghost that haunts
it, Ending A would be the players
retrieving the locket and performing
the exorcism. If the key was learning
that the ghost’s murderer was the
quest-giver, Ending B might be that the
players team up with the ghost to take
the murderer down.
Examples of Ending Bs: Destroy the
Amulet, Befriend the Demon, Forfeit
the Race, Kill the Duke, Escape the
Night, Help the Killer Escape, Delve
into the New Labyrinth.
Your One-Shot’s Ending B:
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The hook is an implied continuation of
the one-shot’s story. Hooks are aUpdated
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Pointy Hat’s Modular Method for One S…
way to end a one-shot because they
imply that these characters go onminutes
to
have further adventures, but they’re
also a great way to make the players
feel that their choices mattered even
more.
Make the different hooks highly
dependent on the choices your players
took during the one-shot to further
drive home that their choices have
affected the world around them.
Hooks are also a great way to
continue playing further. Many
campaigns have sprung up from a
group playing a one-shot and loving it
so much that they decided to continue
playing after it, and a hook allows you
to make that happen seamlessly.
For example, if the players decided to
side with the ghost, the hook could be
the ghost asking the players to help
her go to a specific location where a
medium can help her cross to the
other side. If the players sided instead
with the quest-giver, he might
recommend them as exorcists to a
boarding school that has had several
problems with a particularly tenacious
ghost.
Examples of Hooks: Create a New
Amulet, Go to Hell, Qualify for the
World Race, Find the Duke’s Widow,
Organize a Survival Game, Travel to
Inform the Victim’s Family of Their
Passing, Explore the Other Three
Labyrinths.
Your One-Shot’s Hooks:
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